The bench
A brief tour of the tools in daily use. Nothing here is rare; most of it is just old enough to behave predictably. The mill itself is the only one-of-a-kind object, and even it has a sibling still running in a studio in Ontario.
Cast-iron frame, hand-cranked flywheel, replaceable tool-steel dies. The throat takes slugs up to 1-3/8" square. Belt-driven straightening rollers on the exit side. Two rebuilds, one re-babbitted bearing. It will outlive me.
Forty-two active profiles on the rack. Each is a hardened O1 steel block with the negative of a came cross-section cut into its face. The one in red is die H-316 — the 3/16" H-came I draw most often. Blanks wait on the lathe shelf for the next custom job.
Rock maple top on a welded steel frame. End-clamps with rubber faces. Came comes off the mill slightly wandering; a pass between the clamps, a light roll with the wooden fid, and it's true enough for a leader to lay in blind.
A pair of steel rollers with shallow knurling, squeezed by a hand-wheel. Pass came through on the way off the mill and the leaves crimp just enough to hold their rise against glass without needing to be pinched along every cut line.
Three tools a leader wouldn't work without: the curved lead knife for cutting came without crushing the heart, the hardwood fid for opening leaves, the lathykin for burnishing them back down. Mine are older than the mill; they came with the apprenticeship.
Cast-iron ladle with a rosewood handle. A four-up cast-iron slug mold chalked with graphite between pours to keep the slugs releasing clean. Pours happen in the morning with the big doors open and the stove cold.